Great tour debut for Crumbs From Your Table plus the story of Miss Sarajevo in Minneapolis last night.
So, finally, the live debut of Crumbs From Your Table, but let's start in a different place tonight, in Sarajevo with the story of Miss Sarajevo, rapidly becoming one of the stand-out moments of the third leg of Vertigo '05.
'We used to take the TV station out on the road on Zoo TV,' explained Bono,
referring to the groundbreaking multi-media extravaganza that the band took around the world in the early 1990's. 'We had this TV station, it was we will admit a great extravagance! 'We did a satellite link up with the city of Sarajevo which was under siege and people would beam into our concerts and talk. The reason they were so bombarded was because Sarajevo was previously a great symbol of coexist...'
As Bono raps, Adam, Larry and Edge are getting Miss Sarajevo underway, and maybe thinking back to the time when the the citizens of a beautiful, besieged, war-torn city used to speak to U2 conert-goers in neighbouring European countries on a live-link night after night. Later the band played the city, a night Larry has called one of his all-time great memories.
'When we went there to play we met this girl,' continued Bono. 'She won the Miss Sarajevo beauty pageant. We asked her why they would have a pageant in these circumstances. She said they walked out under the mortar fire dressed up with saches and everything and signs that read 'Do you really want to kill us?'
'We wrote this song for her and recorded it with Luciano Pavarotti'
'He's not here,' added Bono, with a grin. 'But I1ve been putting on a little weight!'
It may have been written for the Italian tenor - have we said this before ? - but there's an Irish one now giving him a run for his money. And so the show finds another peak moment, as the UN Declaration of Human Rights scrolls down the big screens and the dream of Martin Luther King is reawakened with Pride and Streets and One
But back to the beginning: City of Blinding Lights opened the show again, a blaze of skyscraping illuminations and flickering tickertape and within minutes it was turning into history for one blonde woman in a Vertigo T, invited onto stage for Elevation for a spot of singing and dancing. One to dine out on for years to come.
If Edge and Bono were in the foreground, Larry and Adam held the show together, something yesterday's review by Bobby Reed in the Chicago Sun Times captured.
'The band was at its peak when all four members locked into a groove. Bassist Adam Clayton held down the low end with graceful panache, and Mullen proved once again that he is one of the best musicians in rock'n' roll. 'Bono may get all the press, but Mullen provides the musical bedrock that makes this quartet such a powerful live presence. His rumbling kick drum on "Miracle Drug" and bright cymbal splashes on the classic "One" were just as mesmerizing as any of the Edge's textured guitar solos. The soaring vocals and fine fretwork on hits such as "Beautiful Day," "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and particularly "Where the Streets Have No Name" gained much of their power because they were merged with Mullen's inventive percussion. 'Mullen's style is straightforward enough to rouse an entire arena of fans but complex enough to keep the songs from growing moldy over time. The best vantage point at a U2 show isn't in the pit near Bono, but on the side, about 20 rows up, where fans can carefully study Mullen as he works his magic.'
Need we say more ? It's a great vibe when no-one can predict quite what tracks the band are going to throw into the show - especially towards the end tonight when The First Time was performed again after the encore, Edge carrying his acoustic guitar out to the elipse end, followed by Bono for an acoustic classic. Larry and Adam joined them for Wild Horses - another surprise and then the biggest surprise of the night, the live debut of Crumbs From Your Table. What a song!
'You speak of signs and wonders
But I need something other
I would believe if I was able
But I'm waiting on the crumbs from your table
Where you live should not decide
Whether you live or whether you die
Three to a bed
Sister Ann, she said
Dignity passes by...'
